For months, Grubhub has been running an ad campaign to get consumers to try their app. Download and order food from local restaurants delivered to your door.
The ads over glorify their promise and set the expectation for food to show up as an Uber. Quickly. Easily. At the push of a button.
Last Saturday night, my wife wanted a gluten-free pizza, and we agreed to test the app. I downloaded it, and we found a pizza shop about 10 minutes away that made what we wanted and had a good reputation.
It was Saturday night, so we knew it would take time, and we ordered at 7:43 pm. The app told us it would deliver between 8:28 and 8:38 pm. We thought that worse case, the pizza would arrive by 900 pm.
The pizza arrived at 10:11. Almost two and half hours after we ordered. Not quite the experience we expected.
During our wait, I tried to log on to their update and status info, and it wasn’t working, and they were working on it. The app did update me about every 30 minutes that my order would arrive later and later. By 9:30, we ate a different dinner as the app said the pizzas would arrive at 10:36. I don’t know about you, but 3 hours for a pizza to be delivered from a local shop feels like a failure to me.
When I contacted their help/contact us, they offered me a 20% discount off of my next order. That was the wrong answer. The person I was texting with at their help desk wasn’t authorized to do anything but give me 20% off on my next order.
I wondered, what would Zappos have done?
A Marketing Fail
- What is the value of the first experience your customer has with your brand?
- How important is it to earn the trust of a first-timer?
- What is the lifetime value of me as a customer? If I am happy with your service, maybe I’ll use it for years and you’ll earn lots of money from my desire for convenience.
- What is the CAC – cost of acquiring a customer? I bet Grubhub spent hundreds of dollars on ads to get me to try their service.
- Is it worth refunding a disappointed first-time customer when your service fails? Is that a smart investment?
- Is the negative word of mouth (or blog) worth 20% on my next order or to cover the cost of their failure or should the help desk be empowered to make things right?
Do you realize that your customer doesn’t care what went wrong? A customer wants the service you promised and celebrate in your ads. If you disappoint them, they (we) will remember.
And they will tell their friends. And readers. And it may get shared on social media. Hey, Grubhub. Try delivering on your promise.
It is much tastier than the current taste I have in my mouth.
What happens when a brand fails to live up to its promise on a customer’s maiden voyage? That is a special moment when the wrong decision might be a dangerous decision. How do you, onboard new customers? What extra care do you take to make them welcomed? I can help. You can set up a time to chat using my calendar. The conversation is free and we can explore if working together makes sense. Or email me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me at 919 720 0995.
